The egg-decorating tradition began in 1924. Until the mid-80s, the eggs were hard-boiled, not porcelain, says Ruth Taber of the Tanglewood area, who has been an Egg Week regular since 1960.

This was more difficult when we had to clean the real eggs, she says.

Egg chairman Martha Yates of West University Place says, the community just expects them this time of year.##M:(full story)##

During Egg Week, the second floor of the organizations building at 615 W. Alabama is transformed into a factory with assembly line stations, assigned tasks and specialists.

Women who dye the eggs or roll them in glaze wear latex gloves and smocks. Women with artistic flair or steady hands paint the eggs, using a dozen detailed designs that are selected each year by the egg committee. Other volunteers fill egg cartons with fake grass so that one egg of each design can nestle for shipment.

Volunteers say they consider Egg Week a highpoint of their Blue Bird involvement. They also like the lunches the organization provides its workers.

Kathy Keckley of Memorial enjoys the tradition the eggs represent and recognizes the importance of egg sales in supporting the Blue Bird clinic, as well as research to find cures for neurological diseases that affect children.

Lorelei Sullivan of Tanglewood appreciates Egg Weeks camaraderie. Because volunteers cycle through many duties each month, she says, We dont always see each other.

The annual egg-a-thon is so ingrained in some longtime volunteers that they return to Houston from other states to participate, Yates says. Eggs are only part of the spring fund-raiser. Since November, volunteers have been making 1,000 Easter baskets, a laborious 10-step process involving tissue paper and wire. More fragile than the eggs, the baskets wont hit stores until March.

Each year, Blue Bird Circle provides more than $1 million and contributes 100,000 hours of volunteer service to the charitable and benevolent activities it supports. Since its founding in 1923, it has raised more than $20 million.